One artist/client I would raise above others is John Summit. The journey has been quite remarkable for us both. He used to be an accountant making bassy house music for fun. He got fired from his job, and wanted to try and give music all he got. That was 7 years ago. Now he is an EDM/house superstar playing massive stadium shows. Sure enough my reputation as his engineer all this time has been growing too.

Here is a song that well demonstrates what he is doing these days:

John Summit - Where You Are

The mix and master is by yours truly, like in almost every song of his... and there has been a lot music by him, but we ain't seen nothing yet... just wait ;) Funny story behind that mix+master: I was really, really sick when working on that one. I didn't want to tell John or turn down the project because I knew it'd be a big song. So I had this crazy bronchitis and fever and cough for days while we were perfecting that song. My ears rarely suffer from any flu etc. The day after we declared it was fully done and good for release, my ears got a bit crap for days as my sinuses and ear canals swelled up. Great timing. Ha. In my own production life, getting on my favorite DNB label, Metalheadz, was a seminal moment. I've had three releases on them so far, and fourth is coming soon. Check a release called "Northern Exposure" for example.

I got into electronic music in the early 90s, and started making my own in 1992. Jungle hit me pretty hard in mid-90s.

I lived in the country, in the middle of the woods and two lakes, and there wasn't that much to do for a teenager. I started when I was 12.

I was using an Amiga and tracker software. I guess my ears started naturally learning how the music should sound quite early. I believe you pick up a lot of subconscious stuff just by hearing it, without being able to even formalize it all. I still couldn't teach you levels today, as in "Kick has to hit at -8" and all that… I don't believe in that painting by numbers style anyways. Listening to music and understanding the energy is where it's at.

Anyways, you just produce and mix stuff like that because that is how it is supposed to sound to you, and when you start engineering for others, you apply your taste. That is literally where my background is. No formal education in engineering, but the time I have put in is worth a few qualifications or official degrees anyways.

In the electronic music world, labels like Good Looking Records and Metalheadz (their bosses being LTJ Bukem and Goldie, respectively) are probably the biggest single influences to me as an artist musically. Honestly, the releases on their label sounded great even in the nineties!

Also learning to produce jungle and DNB was important for my engineering, because those styles are always quite loud and bassy, and you have to know how to do that to make it hit hard.

I moved from the country to Helsinki in 2000 to experience the club life in an urban setting, and that was one of the best moves I have made because it rooted electronic music in me even deeper.

In the engineering world, I have no influences, really; I am 100% self-taught and it's all happened thru undying love for audio, plugins, and how things should sound and so on.

You MUST have the musical hunger in you. Things often take years and years before they start happening. You don't necessarily just go to audio engineering school (and this is not a diss towards any schools) and decide it'd be nice to be an engineer. The passion must start earlier, or at least it often has done so for those who have made it in the end.

You will be frustrated, discouraged, you will reconsider things and question your choices, but I think Dave Pensado said something like the path to success for many people happens through many detours and is not a straight line. Same for me.

I mean, Dave Pensado wanted to be a guitar player. At one point I wanted to be a DJ and a producer, and while I still make music, it is not what pays the bills: my engineering is. But being a producer made me the engineer, and while I was going towards that, I didn't even know it.

So I'd say, as long as you're firmly rooted in what you love, your feet will stay on the ground and you won't fall. Or actually, you will fall, but you will get up and keep doing it because you don't know of anything better.

If you love audio, you will be messing with it always, even when nobody knows you and you don't have work yet.

I perfected my banana pancake recipe this week and I couldn't be happier!

Add into a blender: two eggs, one banana, 1 deciliter of oatmeal, a few spoons of non-flavored soy protein (tasty protein powders work well too!), a bit of water, and mix.

You will learn thru experimentation how much water it takes; this is critical! Don't make it too watery.

Fry it with butter or coconut oil, slap some peanut butter on the hot finished product and experience heaven.

Blueberries work so well on top too.

And don't forget good dark coffee. If I ever get that engineering Grammy, I'd thank good coffee – and good audio devices!

I have been using Audeze headphones since day one in terms of doing audio for others, and this is a fact!

Even though I know I sound like an ad, I won't lie: buying both LCD-2 and LCD-X made me feel like a professional that's going to offer the best he hecking can! There was something motivational about doing that. Just like when you buy your first great monitors, it makes you feel pretty badass and more confident.

I never start a mix with headphones, but there is a point where I'm 80% done with mixing and mastering a song that I switch to headphones, compare to references etc.

Those cans somehow reveal the power and dynamics to you very well, and especially if my mix is too busy and stuffy somehow, I will always experience it with my Audeze so well.

Like, I feel the mix is too crowded and thick (doing strong drums and bass has always been my forte), headphone check will tell me that.

If it's too pushed or not dynamic enough, once again, my trusted Audeze badboys will be the first one to tell me.

I LOVE working on creating smooth side signals (many producers widen the whole signal, which makes the side signal too thick) wearing those cans, as you can get so close to the signal.

Haha, even writing all this makes me stoked. I won't lie, I have the best job in the world.